Well, this race was very much a last minute entry for me given I missed out on the Shimano 4 hour race at St James Estate the previous weekend due to flu. I'd not ridden the Convict before, but had heard that the 50km version was more a test of fitness than finesse. Still, with a holiday coming up, I thought it was a good opportunity to get in one last race before unwinding on a beach in Zanzibar

The convict was my first ever MTB marathon race in 2012, I remember it being hard and hating every hill with a passion. I eventually rolled in after 6.5hrs (ish).

After this I focused on hills as the core of my training - every hill I could find I went hard at. Last year I felt much stronger and pulled a 5:06, which I was super stoked with. I still felt the back end of the race was a let down (I hit a wall around 85kms), so made a note to increase core fitness and focus on nutrition.

Where does the time go? It doesn't feel like a year since we were last lining up in St Albans for this great race. A few different faces this time around however, sadly no Brian or Dicko, but Phil B, Minter and Chitts were all back having missed out last year for various reasons.